Google’s Eric Schmidt talks NSA spying, security

At South by Southwest Interactive today, Google's Eric Schmidt spoke on the topic of NSA spying and security, touching on things like user privacy and how the Internet giant responded to the information contained in Snowden's leaks. Among it, Schmidt said the company's data is likely safe now.

During his speech, Schmidt spoke of his own surprise over the NSA's violation of Google's security and the data it managed to acquire on the company's users. He went on to compare the government's invasion of the company's data as akin to that of a Chinese attack that took place in 2010.

Schmidt didn't have kind things to say about the government's surveillance methods, of which he pointed out the phone records collection in particular, and eventually lead into conversation about other data breaches, including that of Wikileaks. He said large data leaks can be harmful -- potentially fatal for some individuals -- and that a celebrity culture surrounding it all could be harmful: "There's a real concern about the nature of celebrity driving bulk leaking."

The conversation, in all, was a rounded look at the issue in terms of both how it affected Google and how it affects the public at large, touching on perspectives and outlooks along both side of the fence. Speaking specifically of Google users' data, he said, "We're pretty sure that the information inside of Google is now safe from everybody, including the U.S. government."